Meili Li, the world-wide first Chinese Countertenor to have an international career, enchants the public and the international presse with his "gracefully supple timber", his "versatile voice", his "furios outbursts full of perfectly sparkling coloratura" and with his "outstanding performing skills".
The 26/27 season started with an overwhelming success in the challenging part of MEPHISTOPHILES in A. Schnittke's "Hisotoria von D. Johann Fausten" at Staatstheater Meiningen, where Meili Li already celebrated huge successes in the parts of ENEA in Domenico Sarro's "Didone Abbandonata" and DARDANO Händel’s „Amadigi di Gaula“.
He will continue the season with his Festival-Debut at the 64. Music Festival in Bydgoszcz (Poland), titeled <Contrasts> and is looking forward to his return to the Beijing Music Festival to perform NIRENO in Händel's "Giulio Cesare" under the baton of Laurence Cummings.
A part, he recently recorded on CD (release in Sep 2026) with The English Concert at LINN Records. With this orchestra, Meili Li performed NIRENO also on a tour, including appearences at the Barbican Hall London, the Opera Omaha, The Zellerbach Hall at Berkeley University and the Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Futher past commitments brought him as ADONE in Salvatore Sciarrinos "Venere & Adone" under the baton of Kent Nagano to the State Opera Hamburg, overtaking the never before sang part in a very short time,; LICIDA in Vivaldi's "L'Olimpiade" to the Irish National Opera Dublin and the Theatre Equilibre in Swiss Fribourg, as well as at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; where the production was nominated for the Oliver-Award as <Best new production>; NERONE in Monteverdi's "L'Incoronazione di Poppea" to Theatre Lübeck and ARMINIO in Händel's "Partenope" as Cover to the English National Opera.
In addition, he sang "Les 3 contre-ténors"-concerts with the L'Orchéstre de l'Opéra de Château de Versailles on a country-wide tour in China. Accompanied by the same orchestra, he performed the ALTO-PART in Händel's "Messiah" in Paris.
He embodied SPIRITO in Monteverdi‘s „L’Orfeo“ at the ROH Covent Garden, ORFEO in Fay Kueen Wang’s WORLD-PREMIERE in the immersive opera „Orfeo“ brought him to the Beijing Music Festival, OBERON in Britten’s „A Midsummer Night‘s Dream“ to the Hungarian State Opera Budapest and the Theater Gießen; ALESSANDRO in Händel‘s “Tolomeo, re d’Egitto“ to the International Händel Festival at State Theatre Karlsruhe;PRELEUS in Fux's „La Corona d‘Arianna“ to the Styriarte Graz, the title role of Vivaldi’s GIUSTINO to the Theater an der Wien, the title part of Händel’s TOLOMEO to the Theater Lübeck; the title role of Händel's TAMERLANO to the Cambridge Handel Opera;
MARCO FABIO in Händel’s „Lucio Papiro“ to the London Handel Festival, ALCASTO in Wilhelmine von Bayreuth’s „Argenore“ to Theater Münster, ORFEO in Gluck’s „Orfeo & Euridice“ to the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival Lismore, RUGGIERO in Händel’s „Alcina“ to the Hamburg Chamber Opera; ASTRON in Michael Tippett’s „The Ice Break“ to the Birmingham Opera Company and LIANG SHANBO in Mills’ „The Butterfly Lovers“ to the Victorian Opera; marking his debut in Australia.
In addition, he sang NIRENO in Händel's "Giuclio Gesare" with The English Concert on a small tour through the USA and UK, including the Barbican Hall in London, the Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, Opera Omaha and the Carnegie Hall in NYC.
In addition, covered CHERUBINO in Elena Lager’s and David Pountney’s „Figaro gets a divorce“ at the Welsh National Opera and LINCEO in Cavalli’s „Hipermestra“ at Glyndebourne Festival. And in conservatorie’s productions, he sang the title-part of Stradella's SAN GIOVANNI BATTISTA and THE COACHMAN in Dove's „The Adventures of Pinocchio“.
Due to the Covid-pandemic, his debut as APOLLO in Britten‘s „Death in Venice“ at Theater Münster unfortunately had to be cancelled.
Concert commitments include among others appearances with works by Bach, Händel, Porpora or Vivaldi at the Gewandhaus Leipzig; under Maxim Emelyanychev at the Tchaikovsky Conert Hall in Moscow; with Norddeutsche Klangakademie Hamburg, and regularly with Shanghai Camerata.
He sang “New Year’s Concerts” at Theater Ulm; and in summer 2025, he will perform <Les 3 Counter-Ténors> Concerts on a tour in China with L'Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal de Château de Versailles, with which he aloready sang Händel's "Messiah" in Paris.
Meili Li studied singing with Prof. Dengying Zhao at the Central Conservatory of Music, while he parallel was following a BA in Movie-directing and Philisophy at the Peking University.
Subsequently, he continued his singing-studies in the class of Michael Chance at the Royal Academy of Music and with Yvonne Kenny at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and obtaining his MA with distinction (DipRAM)
Meili Li had the pleasure working with conductors and stage directors such as Patricia Bardon, Felix Bender, Alfredo Bernardini, Laurence Cummings, Margaret Faultless, Magdalena Fuchsberger, Sir John Elliot Gardiner, Vladimir Jurowski, Benjamin Lazar, Richard Mills, Rachel Dodger, Federico Maria Satellit, Aiden Schvarzstein, Kirill Serebrennikov, Graham Vick, Peter Whelan and Lawrence Zazzo.
London based Maili Li, is winner of the 2nd Prize and the Farinelli Prize at London Handel Festival Singing Competition.
Season 2026/27
